


Vindicta

by damnata



Series: Whumptober 2019 [8]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, M/M, Separations, Whump, shadow world politics, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 22:13:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21126089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnata/pseuds/damnata
Summary: Magnus had asked him not to go, had done his best to persuade Alec to stay in bed with soft touches and honeyed words but the alliances between Shadowhunters and the Downworld were still turbulent and leaving the Seelies unchecked would only lead to further discord.





	Vindicta

**Author's Note:**

> Backstreets back alright.  
Day 21 - laced drink
> 
> I´m sorry for being away but the same time I´m not sorry at all because I spent my time with the most wonderful @Carmenlire. I´ll try my best to still fill all the prompts but it might tide into November as I am now super busy with work and school.

It was meant to be a simple diplomatic mission to the Seelie realm where Alec, Head of the New York Institute and therefore somehow a leading figure in smoothing over the wrinkles that Jonathan Morgenstern had caused, was meant to meet with the new Seelie Council and work out if and to what extent they could be trusted while maintaining the tentative truce between their kind.

Magnus had asked him not to go, had done his best to persuade Alec to stay in bed with soft touches and honeyed words but the alliances between Shadowhunters and the Downworld were still turbulent and leaving the Seelies unchecked would only lead to further discord.

Alec was tired of war. The Nephilim were meant to protect the humankind and Downworlders from demons not run after mass-murdering racists of their own making. All Alec wanted these days was to perform his angelic duty, to lead his people and protect those who couldn´t do so themselves, to be fair and just and return home to his husband with the knowledge that he had given his all so both of them and their loved ones could know peace.

Peace was still elusive, however, with the power dynamics between the vampires and werewolves shifting, the mundane government of the United States being wholly uncooperative and the Seelies being disturbingly silent for months before inviting Alec to their realm. But Alec still had hope. He still looked at Magnus and saw a brighter future where no Shadowhunter sneered at the warlock and no Downworlder hissed at Alec, a world where he could return home not only to Magnus but perhaps also to a son or a daughter or even both.

So Alec had slipped out of Magnus´ arms in the morning despite wanting to linger and grabbed a quick shower during which his husband had also stumbled into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for them. They had discussed plans and strategies over fluffy omelettes and freshly ground coffee before Alec had grabbed his bag and the packaged lunch Magnus had lovingly made him and slipped out of the door, a fresh kiss still tingling on his cheek and Magnus´ plea to be careful ringing in his ears.

Alec had been careful, keeping his mood in check and appearing perfectly polite as he went through the greeting rituals of the Seelie court. He was courteous and attentive and only ate the food he had brought with him and drank from the water bottle that Magnus had given to him in the morning. It was Magnus´ favourite one, a silly thing made of darkened glass with a small black cat on it.

He now sat on a chair, his legs too weak to hold him up as nausea rolled inside him, the bottle in pieces at his feet and the Seelie who had laced his water with nectar from the realm kneeling before him, held between two guards. Meliorn, who had slapped the bottle from Alec´s hands as soon as he sensed the water being tampered with, stood behind the boy, holding a dagger to his slender neck.

“Why?” Alec asked weakly. He was here on behalf of the Seelies, the only institute head willing to work with him while the Clave turned their backs to them in light of the Queen´s betrayal.

“My parents died when your parabatai activated the Soul Sword,” The child spat out. “My sister, my brother. I was too young to accompany them to aid your people and now they are lost to me. Kill me if you want, I will die happy knowing that you will never be.”

Alec stared at the child before him, his limbs leaden as he remembered the night he almost lost Magnus. He had been running around the Institute, too busy with his mission to find Magnus to even spare a glance at the other victims of the massacre his parabatai unintentionally caused. The countless bodies of vampires and werewolves and seelies that littered the halls like puppets whose strings had been cut.

Alec had found Magnus alive and well. He had been too happy to think about those who were lost and those who had lost. His heart had selfishly soared when all of his family, all of his loved ones came to him unharmed.

“I lost my family and now you lost yours,” The child grinned at him, a malicious glee on his young face. “The Queen´s magic still holds but this time she isn´t here to reverse her spells. She is  _ dead, dead, dead _ . You will be in the Seelie court until your whole family fades away, until even the great Magnus Bane draws his last breath and then more. Alone, as I am.”

Alec looked at Meliorn, who could only nod with a pitiful look in his eyes.

Alec´s heart broke. He leaned over and threw up on the bright green moss. His hands shook with shock.

“You didn´t even apologize,” The child screamed as he was dragged away by the guards, the tears in his eyes mirroring Alec´s. “No one apologized, just stepped over their corpses as if they were trash.  _ They were my family _ !”

“I´m sorry,” Alec choked out but it was too late, the Queen´s magic, vile even in her death, was coiled around his neck like a noose, tying him to the realm.

Alec hadn´t lost his family, not really.

He was lost to them.


End file.
